Practice pool safety to avoid injury

Recently, a friend of mine hosted a pool party for her neighbors. She was thoroughly surprised when several neighbors just sent their children unattended. While some of the kids were older, strong swimmers and probably would have been fine, my friend sent them back home and asked them to come back with a parent. That's one of her pool rules. She has a toddler and can't supervise everyone's children. So, if your kids are going to swim in her pool, you need to supervise them. Some of her neighbors weren't too pleased. I, on the other hand, think it's a perfectly reasonable rule.

Caution must be used when swimming. Simple measures and rules are the difference between a fun, summer activity and people getting hurt. In 2007, US medical professionals treated nearly 172,000 swimming-related injuries. Many of which could have been prevented. To prevent pool injuries, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers the following tips:

• Never swim alone or allow others to swim alone.
• Supervise children at all times.
• Don't swim if you feel tired, cold, or overheated.
• Never dive in shallow water. (Inspect pools before diving, so you're well aware of the depth.)
• Only one person at a time on the diving board.
• Don't run on the diving board.
• Dive off the end of the board, and don't bounce more than once.
• Always make room for the next diver by swimming away from the board after hitting the water.